One of the most famous Ukrainian smugglers, Yuri Kushnir, went on an agreement with the investigation into a bribery case, pleading his guilt. The court awarded him six years of conditional imprisonment and a fine of UAH 83.26 million, but released from the basic punishment, setting the probationary period of three years.
Kushnir passed the accused of granting a bribe to the former chairman of the Chernivtsi Regional Council Ivan Muntyan. In 2020, he was accused of transferring $ 180,000 for the right to lease the municipal sanatorium "Brusnitsa" for 50 years.
Later it turned out that the Muntyan demanded an even more than $ 400,000 from Kushnir. He was detained while receiving a part of the bribe.
In addition to the probation, Kushnir was banned from engaging in export-import activities in Ukraine for 2 years 8 months. He is also obliged to transfer UAH 10 million to the Fund "Come back alive" to support army aviation during the year and to transfer another 5 million UAH of pledge for the needs of the Armed Forces.
Kushnir is a businessman, the owner of the Chernivtsi Plant of Building Materials and the Sokil Security Agency, as well as a former deputy of the Chernivtsi Regional Council from the Party of Regions. In 2021, the NSDC included it in the list of TOP-10 Ukrainian smugglers, imposing sanctions against it.
Despite the admission of guilt, the judgment of the court, which allowed him to avoid imprisonment, caused a wave of discussions on the fairness of such a decision.
